LAS VEGAS – Chris Gutierrez is just happy to be fighting this weekend. Gutierrez’s return this Saturday at UFC on ESPN 61 – which marks his first bout of 2024 – almost got canceled, as his original fight against Javid Basharat fell through just days before the event. Luckily for Gutierrez (20-6-2 MMA, 8-3-1 UFC), the UFC found a replacement in undefeated LFA standout Quang Le . “I’m happy to have an opponent because I think one or two more days later it would’ve gotten scratched, and it already got pushed back a week before that, so I was excited,” Gutierrez said at Wednesday’s UFC on ESPN 61 media day. “He stepped up, and at this point, it doesn’t matter who it is.” Gutierrez admits he doesn’t know much about Le, given that the booking was announced on Tuesday. But from what little he knows, he’s been impressed by the Vietnamese fighter